I have to admit that the flight attendant's announcement when we landed was a little odd, but it did make me smile.
Please be careful when opening the overhead bins. The items may have become discombobulated?Discombubulated? No, I absolutely did not make this up - and there were smiles on many passengers faces, not just mine!
I'm absolutely amazed by the speed of the setting sun this week. I suspect this solar behavior is not unusual at all; what appears to be an instantaneous sunset is probably driven by my riding close to the edges of the day.
My usual habit is to be off the road well before sunset, but this week I've been pushing the edges (and yes, I really do need Daylight Savings Time to support my after-work rides!). By the time I hit the road with my bike, I had just a little over an hour to ride. Today I headed out at 4:45, and sunset was at 6:07. I was home somewhere between 10 and 15 minutes before sunset. There was still plenty of light when I rolled into my garage, but it seemed like total darkness appeared just a short time later.
A short mid-afternoon walk gave me a nice break from work plus brought a smile to my face. It felt really good to get outside to enjoy today's relative warmth and sunshine. And it was a walk with the added task of greeting five pairs of Canada Geese. I almost felt like I was in the middle of a children's book.
Five pairs of geese... 1 pair sitting, 1 pair walking, 1 pair eating... The remaining two pairs of geese apparently didn't agree on the right activity for the moment; one goose in each pair was happily munching grass, and the other was looking around. Perhaps he (or she) was in guard mode.
I wonder if anyone believed yesterday's post about waiting until next week's switch to Daylight Savings Time to start riding after work. I believed it when I wrote it, but somehow the weather today managed to change my mind.
As I was driving in to work this morning, I decided to shift my work start time back by half an hour for tomorrow and Thursday. And of course I would also leave work a half hour earlier in the afternoon, leaving me just enough time for a short ride supported by daylight. Today was a gorgeous day though, and I just couldn't resist!
I've been pretty consistent through the winter (and now spring) at starting work at 7:30 and leaving by 4:30. Yes, that is nine elapsed hours, but that allows me to fit in a mid-day walk with no guilt. Today though - I left at 4! It was bright sunlight and somewhat crisp as my bike and I rolled out of the house. A 53 degree temperature at the start of my ride lowered to 46 by the time I rolled back in. I managed 18 miles; while my body was willing to keep going, the daylight was about to disappear. I knew that sunset was just after 6, and I planned my ride to return home before the sun disappeared over the horizon. Nice!
Since this weather is supposed to hold through the week - with a forecast of temperatures in the 60s - I think I will start my work day at 7 so that I can leave at 4 without any of that silly guilt. I can feel more after work rides coming.
So tell me, why is it that the weekend can be (relatively) cold and gray and the weather for the work week is forecast to support playing outside?
You're right, I need to stop focusing on the weather. But that's hard for me this time of year. I'm less and less interested in getting my allotted exercise on indoor equipment, and I'm still waiting for the change in daylight to support after-work rides. One more week to go for that...
In the meantime, I'll continue my walking outside this week - wearing fewer layers than I did last week. And I'll keep that daylight savings time countdown going strong. Six days!
Ah, the weekend. The weather forecast was iffy, but both weekend days turned out to be reasonable given that it still is March. Saturday's riding temperature was in the low 40s, and Sunday's was in the high 40s. I'm remembering, learning the right layers as the warmth creeps upward. I had one layer too many on yesterday... Less and lighter layers today worked really well, although there was a short period of time on today's ride when I was sure I had made a mistake.
Why? When I left the house there were some clouds in the sky, but they weren't dark. But within the first half hour, some very dark gray clouds started to hover over me. What were those droplets of water coming from the sky? Luckily, the rain made just a brief appearance, then allowed me to continue to my target mileage for the day. I didn't do the route that I'd planned though, choosing instead to do multiple shorter loops. I didn't want to be far from home if the rain decided to start in earnest.
I could see an occasional tree sporting buds, but for the most part the trees and plants look like they haven't broken out their spring finery yet. But as I rode through a neighborhood near my home, some beatiful crocus caught my eye. I wasn't riding with my camera today, so I guess I was pretty lucky that the crocus weren't too far from here. Yes, you're right - I finished my ride, and then I absolutely did wander back to visit the flowers with camera in hand.
 | Attempting a close shot of some early crocus, beautifully striped purple & white |
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| A little further away, still beauties |
One of my goals for this week was to re-introduce the habit of a (mid-day) walk as a break from my work day. Somehow that habit got lost - probably within the last month - due to a weather that was just not too welcoming. And once I got out of the habit, well, it was hard to start again.
Problem solved! I managed to get out for a daytime walk every day this week. Not long, but enough. Adding a 30 to 45 minute jaunt by foot to my after work exercise makes me happy.
Alarm clock sounds, early morning... Is it really time to wake up? Wait, it's Saturday, I can go back to sleep. Uh, no, it's not, it's only Tuesday!
Wow! I have to say that hasn't happened to me before. I had plenty of sleep last night but for some reason my internal clock seemed to have been set back three days (or forward four). Luckily that was a quickly passing confusion since it was time to get ready for the day and for work.
The calendar says that today is the first day of spring. The weather says maybe... It was a bright sunny day today, with the temperature rising from the 20s to a high of 31 degrees. A little cold for me for a spring day.
It's funny, if you look at the entry of the seasons, it's spring that I am the most eager to greet. Spring brings warming temperatures and lengthening days, and strong support for my outdoor addiction to cycling. Of course it also brings wet weather, but it's the warmer and longer days that make me happy.
The days still aren't warm enough or long enough (from a daylight perspective) to support commuting to work by bike. But daylight savings time starts in just two weeks. That should allow me to add some weekday riding, giving me enough time after work for some sun-supported rides. Yes, we lose some morning daylight and I need that early morning daylight to ride in to work. But realistically, I know that the early morning light will return along with the morning warmth I need to start my bicycle commute once again. After all, it was late May last year before the weather conditions supported my bicycle commuting habit.
In the meantime, I can count the days on my fingers until the daylight supports after-work riding. Happy...
The sunset tonight was absolutely stunning. I was driving home - sans camera, of course - and while I was paying attention to the road, it was impossible not to absorb some of the sights.
Blue sky and clouds, just the right mix. A golden ball of sun shifting downwards, throwing sunbeams up into the clouds. The underside of the clouds painted in orange, changing to pinks. Fading light, beauty...
